Nexus 7 tablet front

Google took the wraps off its Nexus 7 Android tablet on Wednesday,
following months of speculation.

The quad-core seven-incher is mainly notable for three reasons: it is the
first tablet to be sold directly by the company, it will be the first
device to ship with Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, and it will also be very
cheap for its high specifications, with a starting price of £159.

People in the UK can pre-order it now from Google Play, and it will start shipping
in mid-July. The £159 version will come with 8GB of storage, while a
£199 version will come with 16GB.

Published: July 1, 2012 -- 11:33 GMT (04:33 PDT)

Photo by: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET News

Caption by: David Meyer

Nexus 7 back

The Nexus range, which has been all about smartphones until now,
always ships with the latest version of Android in vanilla form,
without manufacturer customisations.

Nexus devices are also the first to get updates to Android. As can
be seen in this shot, the Nexus 7 is made by Asus. The hardware maker built the tablet from scratch in four months, Asus chairman Jonny Shih told All Things D, saying the project was "torture" for its engineers.

However, the specifications and price of the device are almost identical to
those of the ME370T,
which Asus unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January but never got round to
releasing.

Published: July 1, 2012 -- 11:33 GMT (04:33 PDT)

Photo by: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET News

Caption by: David Meyer

Nexus 7 side

Like the ME370T, the Nexus 7 has a 1280x800-pixel IPS screen, a
quad-core Tegra 3 processor and a 12-core GPU.

The tablet weighs 340g, which is significantly lighter than the Kindle
Fire's 413g. At its 7-inch screen size, the Nexus 7 is much
more of a direct competitor to Amazon's Android-based tablet than it
is to the bulkier and more unwieldy iPad.

However, the Nexus 7 is about twice as heavy as the basic Kindle e-reader,
for those considering using Google's tablet for reading.

Published: July 1, 2012 -- 11:33 GMT (04:33 PDT)

Photo by: Josh Miller/CNET News

Caption by: David Meyer

Nexus 7 buttons

Google is making a big content push with the Nexus 7, not only
bundling it with a £15 Google Play voucher but also preloading it with
books and movies.

The tablet will ship with The Bourne Dominion e-book,
Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie, magazines such as Popular
Science, and Coldplay and Rolling Stones songs.

Photos: Google's Nexus 7 tablet serves up Jelly Bean

The Nexus 7 is the first tablet that Google will sell directly to the public, starting at £159 for the quad-core device running the next version of Android, Jelly Bean

Read Less

Nexus 7 tablet front

Google took the wraps off its Nexus 7 Android tablet on Wednesday,
following months of speculation.

The quad-core seven-incher is mainly notable for three reasons: it is the
first tablet to be sold directly by the company, it will be the first
device to ship with Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, and it will also be very
cheap for its high specifications, with a starting price of £159.

People in the UK can pre-order it now from Google Play, and it will start shipping
in mid-July. The £159 version will come with 8GB of storage, while a
£199 version will come with 16GB.